For next intake – What’s the deal with partnerships? By @NihalTharoor
By Nihal Tharoor-Menon
For next intake – What’s the deal with partnerships?
In episode 1 of the SCA series The Intake – which I truly hope never sees the light of day – I play a brent-esque student who leaves his partner Ethan Bennett to couple up with Ben Tatham.
We filmed this way back in the infancy of Coup. Before we’d begun looking for partners, and before we’d done any advertising.
How strangely prophetic that poorly written pilot was.
Ethan and I went on to become a partnership, working together twice, and as things stand I am ending the year in a team with Tatham.
Still, real life is never as simple as constructed reality, and that script overlooked the many ups, downs, twists and turns my year has seen.
In total I’ve had 8 partnerships during my time at SCA, and I worked as a single for over a month.
For those in the next intake who are curious about the strange world of ‘creative partnerships’, I will try and reflect on what – if anything – I have learnt.
- Everyone has something unique to offer. You’ll likely work with many different personalities during the year. Some you may have easy chemistry with, others less so. But all will see things slightly differently to you. Embrace that. It’s there where the magic can happen.
- It helps to enjoy similar kinds of work. Contrasting personalities are great but if you have a different opinion on what you like that can be difficult. Try to find someone who laughs and is moved by similar things to you.
- Always pull your weight. This doesn’t really need saying, but you may bond so closely with your partner that you forget foremost this is a professional relationship. Just maintain that great work ethic that got you here and all will be swell.
- Don’t let other partnerships make you feel lesser than. If you’re not creating work you’re proud of it can be all too easy to put yourself down and put others on a pedestal. Don’t. Trust in your ability. No one really knows what’s going on anyway…
- Maintain positive energy. I’d say this is the most important lesson. In SCA you are going to struggle much more than you succeed. That’s kinda the point. But a sunny outlook will carry you through those stormy days.
I doubt any of this means much now, but keep it bubbling at the back of your mind and hopefully it’ll help when the time comes…
And if all else fails, slip your partner some Rohypnol, steal all their best ideas, and when they wake up just pretend like you were never together.
Good luck!
